.] chris: bottom line. let me ask you about the romney-ryan ticket. did they establish themselves? did they pass the threshold of being presidential enough? >> yes. >> yes, i think association yes, definitely. >> i join the chorus. chris: this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the cuban missile cry sifments president john f. kennedy and khrushchev faced each other over 13 days and much of that time they faced down the hawks on both sides, with spy plane photos showing the russians assem bling missiles in cuba capable of hitting new york, and the top advisors, including the chief of staff of the air force to authorize immediate air strikes before the missiles could be armed by the soviets. kennedy had to weigh the hawks' advice against the reality that no air strike could be 100% effective. and the possibilities that russian retaliation could target berlin and thereby trigger an all-out nuke yar war, as robert kennedy wrote, "the final list of the cuban missile crisis is the importance of placing ourselves in the other country's shoes." president kennedy understood that the soviet u

romney, the opposite. the last thing we need now is another war. >> congressman ryan. >> we mourn the loss of these four americans who were murdered. when you take a look at what has happened just in the last few weeks, they sent the u.n. ambassador out to say that this was because of a protest and a youtube video. it took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack. he went to the u.n. and in his speech at the u.n., he said six times, he talked about the youtube video. look, if we are hit by terrorists, we're going to call it for what it is, a terrorist attack. our ambassador in paris has a marine detachment guarding him. shouldn't we have a marine detachment guarding our ambassadorn benghazi, a place where we knew that there was an al qaeda cell with arms? this is becoming more troubling by the day. they first blamed the youtube video. now they're trying to blame the romney/ryan ticket for making this an issue. and with respect to iraq, we have the same position before the withdrawal, which was we agreed with the obama administration. let's have a status

the man who stood in for ryan during debate practice. also, romney on the attack today, slamming obama and biden on their response to the u.s. ambassador's murder in libya. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of state department officials. he's doubling down on denial. >> plus, my all-star panel weigh in on the v.p. debate and why the stakes are so high in tuesday's presidential debate, round two. this is "piers morgan tonight." >>> good evening. it was the best reality show by far this season. about as real as you can get. the vice presidential debate has already been called the most heated and compelling in history. 25 days to go before the election, it could be a huge factor in who wins the white house. with his grins and his jabs, biden went on the offensive but ryan didn't back down. here's one memorable exchange between the two. >> you can cut tax rates by 20% and still preserve these important preferences for middle class taxpayers -- >> not mathematically possible. >> it is mathematically possible. it's been done before. it's precisely what we're pro

what the romney-ryan people would do any different than the president and any detail on the issue of afghanistan, what they would do differently on that issue. on question after question, i completely disagree with my friend, larry, i don't think he handled himself well at all on foreign policy issues, i think he was a total disaster. he did not look like he was ready to be commander in chief. i think the american people saw that. >> just one quick. >> i don't think -- >> one quick challenge. just one quick challenge to my good friend, keith boykin, i admire enormously. >> here it comes. whenever somebody says that -- >> actually, jared said earlier the first part of that debate was steaming and i agree. steaming was really on foreign policy and really on benghazi. i thought ryan drew a lot of blood. i think he put biden immediately on the defensive and the administration has a huge problem here a credibility problem, it could be a cover-up or falsehood problem. i think you saw that. biden was incapable of conclusively saying anything and ryan looked very strong. >> we should mention

contrast with what ryan and romney would do. >> some people have called your father disrespectful by the way he treated paul ryan last night, that he was like sort of an older bully bashing a little guy around. what did you think? your dad's always been a fairly live wire when it comes to public speaking. i found him thoroughly entertaining, i have to say. do you think he overstepped the mark occasionally? does he feel that? >> not at all. i didn't feel that way at all. look, you grew up following and covering parliamentary system. this was mild from the things relative to what you've covered. >> that is true. >> in great britain. and so look, my dad says what he means, means what he says. he did it with a smile. he has great respect for the congressman. but you know, he was very focused on making sure the american people had a clear idea about what they want to do and clear idea of what ryan and romney want to do. look, one of the things i was most struck by last night was when congressman ryan, when talking about afghanistan, which will be this nation's, our nation's longest war, t

day. they first blamed the youtube video. now they're trying to blame the romney/ryan ticket for making this an issue. >> we weren't told they wanted more security. we did not know they wanted more security. >> i was surprised when he said that, because as a viewer, watching, i was like well, hang on a second, i thought the state department had said that they received these warnings. mitt romney today has doubled down on the attacks on joe biden, what he said. watch this. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of state department officials. he's doubling down on denial. >> the white house has said, hang on, he's just talking about himself and the president. how plausible is that? >> well, you know, the buck has to stop somewhere. they are in charge. diplomacy overseas is important to the executive branch as any mission i can think of, and this whole thing is just troubling to me, piers, because there's just -- we have seen a bit of a history here so if you recall, back in the shooting at fort hood, they came out and said oh, this is workplace violence. ob

trillion in debt, doubling gas prices, no coherent energy strategy, it's clear to me that the romney-ryan ticket had the only blueprint to get us out of this mess. we're not going to -- four more years of the same policies will get four more years of the same results. >> i think what we learned about paul ryan is he is as good as his boss at obfuscating what their plan is. he could not answer how he was going to pay for this $5 trillion lowering of the tax rates. he couldn't list a single deduction, a single loophole, that they would close, except he said we would go to congress. now, what they're saying is that we're not going to tell you, we're going to go to congress and, surprise, we'll see it after the election. it's the same stuff that -- >> where's the obama plan? he's had four years. he can't even get a budget passed. >> why? because you have a congress that has signed pledges not to cooperate. >> the obama budget was killed 535 to 0 because it raises the debt by $7 trillion. >> that is not true. >> yes, it does. >> we have got to in these final few weeks try to reach some resolution abo

ryan add to the romney momentum or did biden help put the obama campaign back on track? now the pollsters go to work to try to figure o that out while voters digest the second of four debates. danville, kentucky, i'm steve handles men, nbc news, lynn, back to you. >>> steve, thanks so much. nbc's andrea mitchell led our truth squad in danville last night with a fact check of the debate. she started with the deadly september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi and paul ryan accusing the obama administration not correctly protecting the personnel. >> what we should not be doing is rejecting claims for calls for more security in our barracks, in our marine. we need marines in benghazi when the commander on the ground says we need more forces for security. there were requests for extra security. those requests were not honored. >> reporter: vice president biden called the deaths a tragedy but he said they did not know ambassador stevens and other personnel on the ground had been asking for more security help. >> we weren't told they wanted more security there. we did not k

. paul ryan, there was one bit of damage done to the republican side tonight which is the romney/ryan ticket is not credible on the issue of the war that we are fighting. >> no, they're not. >> we have 68,000 people right now, paul ryan embarrassed himself on afghanistan tonight in a way he embarrassed himself on no other issue. he did not understand the question well enough to know that he was making a mistake because he's just learned this for the test. he doesn't understand any of it. i find it terrifying. >> i think that he absolutely blew it in terms of afghanistan. i think even when he said marines in benghazi, when marines are at embassies. and, i mean, he also bent the truth. he's not at the level of liar as romney. he's a fibber. growing to be a liar. romney's an accomplished liar. but i think that clearly mr. biden gave facts. there was nothing they could refute. and i think he was fiery and to the point. i think ryan held his right wing position. he did not do the chameleon thing that romney did. >> that's true. >> i think it will hurt him in the end and hurt romney in the end and

ryan campaign, in sidney, ohio. >> reporter: good evening to you, brian, mitt romney traveled many miles on his campaign bus, making three stops trying to build on his momentum from last week and put his campaign in full swing. on the campaign trail, mitt romney stopped in mt. vernon, a manufacturing plant in a must-win state, who has something in common with his wife, ann. >> they are both breast cancer survivors. >> reporter: the romney campaign hopes this is a sign of a trend, the polls surge showing that the trend is higher among women voters. on monday, he seemed to soften his position on abortion. >> there is no legislation on abortion that i'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda. >> reporter: the obama campaign jumped on the comment, writing, we know where he stands on a woman's right to choose, pointing to last comments made in 2007. >> so i would like to see roev wade, where people themselves have the ability to put in pro-life legislation. >> reporter: today in ohio, romney was pressed to clarify. >> i think i said time and again, i'm a pro life candidate an

it is is because of mitt romney and paul ryan. >> sean: we are just 25 days from the election. "hannity" starts right here, right now. tonight, the former vice-president of the united states, dick cheney is giving us his exclusive reaction to the debate. first, a recap of the faceoff between crazy uncle joe biden and congressman paul ryan. without question, the headline was biden's downright bizarre, strange, bewildering behavior. for nearly 90 minutes he was either uncontrollably laughing or rudely interrupting his opponent. not even the benghazi terror attack or the nuclear weapons program were enough to prevent these bizarre outbursts. >> it is never too early to speak out for our values. they keep misquoting him. but let me tell you about the mitt romney i know. don't raise taxes on small businesses because they are our job creators. >> vice-president biden. >> incredible. >> look, you both saw benjamin netanyahu hold up that picture of a bomb with the red line i. thank heavens we have the sanctions in place. it is in spite of their opposition. they have given 20 waivers t

, hitting romney by going after the target rich ryan budget. strategy the obama camp signaled with a web video today. >> they haven't given me the math. >> well, i don't have the -- it would take me too long to go through all of the math. >> reporter: biden, though, could be on defense because unlike the first debate focused only on domestic issues this time half of the agenda is foreign policy. so the door is wide open for tough questions act security failures leading to the terror attack in libya. and the administration's mixed messages. then there are the gaffes. >> how they can justify raising taxes in the middle class has been buried the last four years. >> reporter: they may give ryan fodder, analyst note the vice president performs better when the speaking time is limited. >> in debates; particularly, against sarah palin four years ago he was disciplined. i don't think -- i think the republicans will be unwise to count on a biden gaffe. >> reporter: fox learned that the vice president was all over the place in his first debate prep session. that's why david axelrod and other t

doing their level best to undermine the romney-ryan ticket to accuse him of concealing the conservative aspect. >> he's trying to go through an extreme makeover. after running for more than a year, in which he called himself severely conservative, mitt romney is trying to convince you he was severely kidding. >> after 200 fundraisers since announcing the re-election bid, mr. obama holds the last one before election day tonight in miami. florida like all of the swing states has been for months and is now a tossup. the blizzard of daily polls is at or close to where it's always been. in florida, the president is up one point, 48-47 over romney. in virginia, romney by a point. ohio, president is up six. in colorado, romney leads 48-vii. the latest quinnipiac poll for cbs and the "new york times." romney's victory strategy hinges on those four states more than any others. the real clear politic average shows tie in florida. in ohio, president is up over a point. virginia, he remains ahead by half a point. and romney has that same lead in colorado. >> prayer is the most helpful

happen in the romney/ryan campaign. now, over and over and over again on this campaign, on issues big and small, the romney/ryan campaign before today has been able to use one particular technique to escape the consequences of having unpopular policy ideas or policy ideas they don't particularly want to defend. they do this same thing over and over again, and usually, it works for them. here's the pattern. here's the pattern they have established. here's mitt romney back in august telling scott pelly of "06 minutes" that he believes abortion should be allowed to protect a woman's health. seriously? mitt romney thinks abortion is okay if a woman's health is in danger? no, not really. his campaign later said, no, never mind what mitt romney just said. he does not believe abortion should be allowed to protect a woman's health. okay. then in september, here was mitt romney telling david gregory on "meet the press" that he's not going to repeal all of obama care. he says he will keep part of obama care. but the part that requires coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. seriously?

. >> governor romney has embraced the ryan budget. well, he has. he's gone back and said, no, he agrees with it. i just want to make sure that, when i say these things, that i don't have the congressman saying, no, no, no, i don't have that position, or that's not the governor's position. >> expect biden to be more pointed and tough than the president was. the question, how aggressive will he be? he doesn't want to come off as unlikable or condescending. one thing biden has going for him, his, quote, unquote, gaffes. in a new pew poll, voters narrowly say they expect ryan to win tonight's debate in a 40-34 margin. although ryan is trying to down play expectations. >> joe biden has been on this stage many times before, and this is my first time. sure, it's a nervous situation because joe biden is one of the most experienced debaters we have in modern politics. but the achilles heel he has is president obama's record. >> and ryan is dealing with unrealistic pressure. the base of his party thinks of biden the same way democrats thought about dan quayle. they consider him a joke. and

women. >> if the romney/ryan ticket is elected should those that believe abortion should remain legal be worried? >> david cay johnston on ryan's sixth study lie. >> can you guarantee this math will add up? >> absolutely. six studies have guaranteed. >> and what's more disrespectful? lying to america or interrupting a guy who's lying to america? >> it was openly contemptuous and disrespectful. >> karen finney on the right wing freak-out over joe biden's knockout performance. >> ever felt that way where you just want to deck somebody? >> an obnoxious drunk. i think somewhere during the debate he took ridlin. >>> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. what did we see? we witnessed a schooling on the issues by vice president joe biden last night. it really was the shot in the arm the democrats and the progressives were hoping for. after watching mitt romney get away with lie after lie last week, the vice president wasn't putting up with it from a guy who's number two on the republican ticket. >> when we equivocate on our values, when we show that we're cutting our

looking forward to. this shows romney ryan surge after the first presidential debate is taking place. peter doocy is live with more on this. >>> you are right. the romney ryan ticket road the debate performance to the lead in the latest fox news poll of likely voters. before the debate the massachusetts governor and current wisconsin congressman trailed the president and vice president 43-48. they were down 5. now they are up one. the lead is even larger with critical independent voters. romney ryan were down 4 to romney biden but now they were up 12 with 44 percent with democratic side 32 percent. another key number are the voters were unsure they want somebody else. that number shot up 6 points after the debate. the debates have the potential to move the needle quite a bit. with four weeks to go joe biden has been prepping for his in delaware with chris van holland playing ryan. the president handicapped tonight's big show down. >> joe just needs to be joe. congressman ryan is a smart and effective seeker but his ideas are the wrong ones. >> ryan has a chance to let voters decide f

be was as we work to move romney and ryan forward. thank you senator. two more events for senator hatch. he's doing a great job. [applause] >> we have some great governors, we have some great conservative republican governors in this country that are moving this country forward. we have the governor here in nevada. he does a tremendous job. we've had chris christie, everybody is doing a great job and we have another wonderful governor here today and i'm so thrilled to have her here with us. now the governor understands what a tough race is. she understands what a tough race is and how tough it is here in nevada to move this same agenda forward. so helping me, i know what a tough race is and governor romney knows what a tough race is. and having everybody coming together like this having her leadership having the direction and how to get things done in this country, making the necessary changes in new mexico, moving new mexico forward is going to move america america forward. governor thank you very much for taking time and spending a few moments with us. thank you. >> thank you. t

was out in denver campaigning for the romney ryan ticket and i slept about two hours. so i kind of woke up in the morning throughout the -- threw open shades and says it's time. >> murray how about you. was it fun to watch your uncle debating the vice president of the united states? >> it was amazing. we're really proud of him. it's incredible being able to see this guy i'm used to watching packer games with on sunday nights you know being, debating vice president joe biden. it was amazing. >> mack, how about you? what was the best part for you? >> uh, i just love seeing my uncle paul just debating and being himself. i just thought this is the same guy i just grown up seeing w he's just being himself. it was great to see him on tv out there. >> greta: do you think he'd be a good vice president mack? >> i think he's going to be a great one and put the country on the right track. >> how about you, maur murray. >> i have to agree with my brother on that one. >> greta: back to you, tobin. what did you think about back and forth? how do you think the vice president treated your brother?

hitting at romney than ryan did hitting at obama. i think ryan, though, was, came across as ernest, knowledgeable and polite, whereas especially in that first hour, joe biden was clearly playing b cable debate rules, which is interrupt and talk over your opponent at will. i think al is right that is going to enthuse democrats. i am not sure how it is going to play with undecided voters. me personally and i am not an undecided veert it came across as off putting, obnoxious and rude and i can guarantee that on the shows tomorrow morning and in the cable discussion going forward, tomorrow and into the weekend the biden smiles and the biden smirks and the biden interruptions will be a juicy topic for discussion. >> rose: mark hall snrin. >> halperin? >> well, i am mostly going to paraphrase what rich lowry just said, there are two things that clearly come out of this, one is the detrimentally base is going to be pleased that they thought, saw the somebody fighting on their behalf and being aggressive on a lot of big issues that the president did not prosecute in the last debate. two, i

other guy's ticket. ryan on obama and joe biden on mitt romney. >> you are so right, john. that's the key. the tops of the tickets that will really matter at the end of the day or the end of the evening. thanks, john. we'll see you later on in the show and tonight's vice presidential debate, the tax discussion will be a key issue, the so-called $5 trillion tax cut for rich people. now, take a listen to former senator alan simpson in an exclusive interview only on cnbc today. >> you have a situation where grover norquist has obtained this pledge in the '80s, in the early '90s, he got this pledge that you wouldn't raise taxes under any circumstances unless they are commensurate with spending cuts and those guys are enthralled to him. >> best way to take that on is to reform the tax code, to broaden the base and simplify the code, to wipe out these tax expenditures and use that money to reduce rates. >> well, all right. lo looks like bowles supports the grover norquist idea which is the romney idea. sounds like simpson, as usual, is being very crotchety. let's get to the two guests to ge

, laughing, make is his presence felt when paul ryan was speaking. >> under a romney administration, we will have credibility on this issue. >> vice president biden? >> incredible. >> thank heavens we have these sanctions in place. it's in spite of their on sgligs oh, god. >> it's been discredited by six other studies. over 100 criminal investigations that have been launched in just how the stimulus spending has been spent. >> martha, look. >> reporter: at one point biden seemed to hold back from cursing. this is a bunch of stuff. here's the deal. >> what does that mean, a bunch of stuff? >> here's the deal. >> it's irish. >> we irish call it malarkey. >> reporter: and while ryan largely avoided to take the bait he did push back on biden a few times. >> mr. vice president, i know you're under a lot of duress to make up for lost ground, but i think people will be better served if we don't keep interrupting each other. >> reporter: biden deployed many attacks that president obama failed to use against romney last week, like the infamous 47% remark. >> it shouldn't be surprising for a guy who s

romney generated in denver so we can expect he's going to go hard after ryan and for ryan, as for any vice presidential candidate, he wants to focus on president obama, not the guy joe biden across the stage from him. and it's a big moment for paul ryan who when he had a big moment, at the republican convention did very well, guys. >> john, absolutely, we're going to be watching those and john will be with us throughout the program tonight. we want to bring in larry kudlow. you take a look at what's happening this time around, people are tuning into this. this is a game changer tonight. >> massive. biden's trouble is he has to stop the bleeding. the odd thing about this is, obama had his clock cleaned in the debate last week. worse than that, he had his clock cleaned in the week after the debate chasing down sesame street. one of the dumbest things i've seen for a guy who's usually pretty smart and run a good campaign until recently. biden has to stop the bleeding tonight. that's one of his goals. >> you would agree, he is a better debater than his own boss by a function of one or two

the love. what are the expectations coming from the romney campaign for paul ryan's big night tonight? here what happens his senior adviser, dan senor told chuck todd this morning, when it was really cold. >> he has to make the case about the choice in the election, all right? things have been rough over the last four years and it's incumbent on president obama and vice president biden to explain what exactly has happened over the last four years 23 million americans out of work, 47 million americans on food stamps 1 in 6 americans in poverty have them explain the rational for why they deserve a second term. there is a choice as it relates to the budgets, they are running on the romney/ryan agenda. governor romney laid out a plan, his five-point plan for the middle class. >> nbc's ron mott has been covering congressman ryan throughout and traveling with him and interviewing dan senor as well, and joins me now here. you've been with ryan camp. what is the mood? they must have gotten pumped up. >> totally. >> by the romney performance. now there's a whole expectation game for th

rhetorically tougher than this administration, what is it that romney/ryan would do differently on some of these difficult matters? >> i wanted to show mitt romney in richmond today on this whole same subject. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of state department officials. he's doubling down on denial. >> to this day, to this day, we do not have a complete picture. we do not have all the answers. no one in this administration has ever claimed otherwise. >> and that wasn't the only foreign policy issue. another was iran. also afghanistan. interesting partly because of martha raddtz's experience and expertise and talk about winners and losers, the winner of that debate was martha raddtz my friend and colleague at abc but also on iran you have two completely different postures. >> 100%. actually, for -- having said that, that paul ryan was kind of along for the ride i will say for a debate that was, it was supposed to be domestic and foreign policy it was both of those things but a lot of foreign policy. for a guy who has no real track record on foreign polic